Letter from Bishop Kevin J. Farrell to All Dallas Diocese Catholics

"My brother bishops and I cannot—will not—comply with this unjust law."

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I write to you concerning an alarming and serious matter that negatively impacts the Catholic Church in the United States and strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty for all citizens of any faith. . . . The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced last week that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees' health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those "services" in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies. . . .In so ruling, the Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, . . . [and] denies us as Catholics our nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty.